Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma’s application for permanent exemption for appearance in court has been rejected by an ADJ court of Jaipur. Sharma is on bail in the 2013 Gopalgarh riots case.
Judge Anamika Saharan, while rejecting the CM’s application, said that there is no such circumstance in the case that the CM should be permanently exempted from appearing in the court.CM Bhajanlal Sharma in his application had stated that the applicant is the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and has to go out of Jaipur and abroad often.
In such a situation, he should be granted permanent exemption from appearance in the court in the said case. The court said in its order that the accused is out on bail. The case is at the stage of evidence prosecution.
The accused was granted bail on the condition that he would remain present in the court as and when required. At present, there is no such situation that the accused is unable to appear when summoned by the court. The accused has to be present whenever the court summons him. His lawyer can present an application for exemption from appearance for the day on which he is not present.
However, in the opinion of the court, since there is no such circumstance at present, the application is rejected. The court has also rejected the application of former minister Zahida Khan and former MLA Anita Gurjar to remove the condition of informing the court while going abroad. Both had filed applications in the court stating that they are public representatives and the hearing has been going on for the last 11 years, so the condition of informing the court before going abroad should be removed.
All these leaders are on bail since 2013 in the 2011 Gopalgarh riots case. The court had granted conditional bail to Bhajanlal Sharma, Zahida Khan, Jamshed Khan, Pramod Sharma, Jawahar Singh Bedham, Kesari Singh, Girdhari Tiwari and other accused on September 10, 2013.